


growing pains

by jessamoo



Category: Reign (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-19
Updated: 2014-10-19
Packaged: 2018-02-21 18:57:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2478923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessamoo/pseuds/jessamoo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>for the prompt "modern au where kenna and bash grow up together and she falls in love first but bash is an idiot for a while."</p>
            </blockquote>





	growing pains

“Sebastian, I swear to god…” Kenna is backing away warily with her hands up karate chop style, as if that will protect her from the heavy spray of water currently streaming from the garden hose.

“Only you and my mother call me than, Ken. And just for that!” he lunges toward her with the hose and covers her in water.

Kenna screams and runs away excitedly. When she looks back she realises she has run further than the hose will allow Bash and she sticks her tongue out at him.

“What are you, five?” Bash calls out and her mouth drops open with a shocked laugh.

“Says the boy that just drenched me! Go back to cleaning the car like you’re supposed to be doing!” she calls authoritatively, pointing a finger at him as he retreats.

He smiles and playfully flicks the hose in her direction again, turning back to his half washed car as the after splashes somewhere near her feet.

 

Kenna rounds the corner of the great manor house her best friend lived in. She had been coming here since she was a child – she’d stay here often with some of the other children from the school they attended. A lot of them were on scholarships that meant it was easier for them to stay in one place near to the school. The light stone bricks under her hands were so familiar to her now, she was surprised she hadn’t worn a dent in them the amount of times she had trailed her fingers on them like she did now.

Despite her excited happiness at messing round with Bash, Kenna found herself sighing heavily as she stepped into the shade and leant against the wall, looking out at the vast acres of grass in front of her.

The house was much quieter now. The friends that used to live here were mostly gone to their own houses now. 

Mary and Francis had finally moved in together away from the prying eyes of his overbearing parents. Lola and Greer had found a little apartment that Kenna had helped furnish in bright pinks and floral patterns. They had invited Kenna to move in with them, but she had refused. 

She couldn’t say why, all those months ago. Why had she not left the manor as all her friends did? What held her here? She only had one year left at the school.

But now she knew. She tugged at her soaking wet shirt, inspecting the damage without caring. She was thinking about Bash. She could no longer deny to herself what everyone else had known for ages.

He was the reason she stayed here. Not only to protect him against the tyranny of his parents and step mother who had always seen him as a bastard – he was at the mercy of archaic ideals here, and he didn’t have the authority or respect he deserved. She couldn’t leave him to that. But she knew it was because she loved him.

She sighed and bashed her head back against the wall, screwing her eyes up against her own stupidity. How cliché of her. She had fallen in love with her best friend. The boy she had grown up with. They had shaped themselves around each other. They were the two people who knew each other most in the world. And her stupid feelings were about to go and ruin it.

She wasn’t one to pine after someone like a love sick school girl, but Bash was different. She saw how he had loved Mary and her heart had broken. Not for herself so much as for him. It had been a year or two since, but she had known without him telling her. She always knew when it came to him. And when Mary had chosen Francis – just like she always, eternally would – Bash had retreated into himself. He had begun to see himself the way all the adults here told him he was. Second in comparison to his brother.

He had been a bit better recently, but she worried for him. It was just them here now out of the children. Whereas she might be kind of happy at the idea of spending all that time alone with him, especially if he was going to clean cars with no shirt on, she knew he was oblivious to anything she felt for him. To him he would just be hanging out with his best friend constantly without rest.

 

She wraps her arms around herself. Now she is out of the sun the chill of her damp clothes is setting in. She pulls her shirt off so she is just in her hot pink push up bra (worn for Bash’s benefit, not that he noticed, the idiot), not seeing anyone around.

She is about to wring it out and put it back on when a huge force knocks the wind out of her.

As Kenna hits the grass with a heavy thud she looks upward, glinting against the light in the sky. Then his face comes into view, eclipsing the sun. Bash, grinning manically at having tackled her, heaving above her, his legs entangled with hers messily.

“Bash, what the hell?!” she shouts, making a show of trying to push him of but not really meaning it. She did not find the weight of him on top of her entirely unpleasant, to say the least.

She stops, her fingers spreading out on his strong bare shoulders – she is breathing heavily, but not from the tackling. She knows the flush creeping up her cheeks is from something else entirely. She can feel his muscles moving and flexing against the bare skin of her stomach. It’s like a steady pulsing, as calm and comforting as the sea.

Bash is about to reply flippantly, but then she sees a small confused frown come over his features, knitting his eyebrows together. 

He props himself up placing a hand either side of her so he is hovering above her. The small space between them feels wide as continents. She drops her hands from him, flopping them onto the grass either side of her head. Her hair is spread all around her like a halo.

His eyes travel down her body slowly. She is in shorts that are, well, quite short. She dares not move her hips even an inch, as she realises their bodies are pretty much parallel. Her skin tingles as his green eyes move to her bare stomach, to her bright pink bra that couldn’t be missed. His eyes linger there for just a second too long before flicking back up to hers. 

His lips set sheepishly he stumbles over his words. “I- um, well I didn’t realise you’d be…I should have thought, I’m sorry.” He moves to stand up.

Her hands fly into the air to reach for him without thinking. “No its fine Bash, I know you didn’t mean anything. Bash!” she calls again.

He is standing up straight with all playfulness gone. He stretches out a hand to pull her up, lifting her easily from the ground like she weighed nothing. 

He bends to pick up the t shirt she had dropped and holds it out to her, a tinge of red creeping up his cheeks to match her own. She takes the shirt without a word and he averts his eyes until she had pulled it over her head, rather ungracefully.

“I should…I have to go…do things.” Bash coughs loudly and she might have laughed at his pathetic attempt at excusing himself if she hadn’t been so completely mortified.

Kenna watches him go without another word, her shoulders slumping sadly.

 

She had been half naked underneath the boy she was butt crazy in love with and he couldn’t wait to leave. She had never been awkward with him, not like just then. She knew in some deep down part of her that something had been lost to them now. It didn’t seem like a big deal, but she knew it was. Some kind of friendly innocence had been erased. With the rest of their group leaving, it was like she and Bash had been waiting to fall apart too. She didn’t want this to be the thing that broke them. This stupid little prank. Surely they were stronger than that. But after the way Bash had got up like she’d burned him, she wasn’t so sure.

In the weeks after that Bash was distant with her. He was always polite and friendly, but almost too much. They would always be best friends that kind of history can’t ever disappear. But he would treat her like every other girl. He would be a gentlemen, but not just out of respect. It was a far cry from the steady, unassuming intimacy and ease they had once had with one another.

She realised it wasn’t just her he was different with. He would excuse himself early from dinner, and he would spend more time alone. Whenever his parents would ask about school he would mutter just a few meaningless words. When they asked if he had met anyone new, he wouldn’t answer in the joking, flippant way he had before. He would answer shortly if at all, much the way he had when Mary had sat across from him instead of her.

But occasionally, he would hover around her. Or he would place a comforting hand on her shoulder, or she would feel his piercing green eyes trained on her. And Kenna would wonder. Something of their old relationship still remained, but there was a barrier between them now. And she was determined to break it. She hadn’t told him about her feelings to avoid this specific outcome, and yet it had happened anyway. That was beyond annoying to her. So she was going to fix it.

 

Mary and Francis came to visit the next weekend. 

The tension had been palpable as they sat in the middle of Bash and Kenna, who were avoiding eye contact and only speaking in single syllables. Kenna at least noticed that Bash was too preoccupied with avoiding her that he didn’t pay all that much attention to Mary either – and in her petty jealously she took a little triumph in that.

“Alright. What is going on with you two?” Mary demands in the same authoritative tone she had used since she was little, that had used to send the rest of the children running scared.

“You guys have been acting really weirdly.” Francis acknowledges. “I’ve never seen you like this.”

Kenna scoffs and rolls her eyes, and Bash makes an active effort not to look at her or even react. This, he should have known, would push Kenna. And it did.

Crossing her arms with a huff Kenna spits “Well Bash has obviously never seen a girl in her bra before either.”

“Stop it Kenna.” Bash commands quickly in a stern, low voice.

When she looks back, he is staring at her seriously, and it’s the first time he’s properly looked her in the eyes in weeks. Her angry resolve falters a little at that grave look and his tone brooked no argument.

She bites her lip against irrational, angry tears and looks away again.

 

Eventually Mary and Francis had had enough and with a huff and an eye roll, they had separated Bash and Kenna. She and Mary had strolled around the grounds, avoiding the small spot by the lake that Francis and Bash chose.

Whenever Kenna would gaze at Bash in the distance as they passed there, Mary would tug her on, gently but kindly, without a word.

“It’s probably just angsty teenage boy stuff. He’ll be fine soon, you’ll see. He always is.” Mary assures her, linking their arms together.

“But he isn’t an angsty teenage boy. At least, I always just thought he was more mature than that.” Kenna shrugs, missing Mary’s amused eye roll.

“Trust me, even the best ones have to have a little angst phase. At this point it feels like seventy percent of Francis’s personality.”

Kenna lets out a huge laugh and Mary smiles sympathetically at her. There is something in that smile, something knowing and pitying. And whilst she appreciates her friend trying to cheer her up, Kenna found suddenly that she couldn’t stand it. It felt pointless, ridiculous even, that the messing around like they always had somehow resulted in this full on war.

 

Kenna stopped suddenly and ignoring Mary’s cries of protest, began to stomp determinedly toward the boys.

“We are going to talk properly.” She yells as she gets up to them and they stand up in surprise. Mary comes panting up behind her, breathing something to Francis but Kenna isn’t listening. She is staring at Bash, at the way he won’t meet her gaze.

“Kenna it’s OK, just give us –“ Francis starts but Bash puts a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

The brothers make eye contact and some kind of verbal communication transpires between them. Giving one awkward smile to Kenna, Francis moved past her and took Mary’s hand, pulling her away. Kenna heard her confused grumblings as they left them alone.

 

Bash turns away from her to look across the lake and she puts her hands on her hips.

“Bash.” She cries questioningly. “Sebastian!”

At her barking his full name forcefully he finally turns to look at her.

When he does he doesn’t just see anger on her face. There is sadness, a helpless brokenness. The slump to her shoulders gives away how tired she is of this, how defeated. His look softens.

“I’m sorry for saying that to Mary and Francis, about what happened. But you were being…well you've been a bloody idiot. And you’ve been ignoring me and I don’t know why or what I’ve done!” her voice is coming of more shaky than she intended, and she tries to square her shoulders confidently, but it doesn’t fool him. 

He just continues to look at her sadly. “Its…it’s not anything you’ve done Kenna. Please believe that. And it’s not really even about what happened.”

“Then what the hell is it?” she yells, an edge of anger returning to her voice at her frustration and confusing.

Bash shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter. I’m sorry you’ve been hurting.” He scuffs the dirt on the ground with his shoe and she shakes her head.

“No. no you are not getting away that easily. It does matter because it matters to me. You matter to me! I want to fix this because you’re my best friend and I love you!”

“Don’t!” he snaps. “Don’t say that.” he adds softly.

Its words she has said to him a thousand times, whether he knew how deeply she meant it. But this time he smiles self-deprecatingly and shakes his head a little. Kenna feels a huge weight on her chest and something inside her breaks. She begins to cry freely and she can’t believe what she’s just heard.

“What?” she whispers, appalled. She doesn’t disguise her horrified tone. “We have known each other our entire lives…and you’re honestly telling me I’m not allowed to say that I love you? How dare you say that to me?” she takes an uneasy step back from him.

Bash notices her retreating and she sees anger at himself breaking over his face. He closes his eyes sadly for a moment.

“Not because I don’t – it’s just…difficult for me now.” He starts hesitantly.

She stops moving away and looks at him in disbelief. “What does that even mean?” she hisses.

He squares his shoulders and raises his head properly, gathering his composure.

“It means…it’s difficult for me to hear you say that because…if I were to say it back…well we would mean It in different ways.” He tries to explain but he sees the confusion on her face.

“I don’t understand.” She admits in a scared little whisper.

“I mean…you say I’m your best friend and you love me. Well…I love you too, but I want to be…more than your best friend.” He nods at her, encouraging her to understand.

Her heart is threatening to beat out of her chest. The blood beat rushing to her head it painful, almost dizzying. She doesn’t dare believe what she’s hearing. “Are you saying…”

“I’m in love with you.” he states simply, but she hears the nerves in his voice. “Maybe I always was, I don’t know. I think I took for granted how easy it always was between us, how close we were. Maybe it was always there without me knowing. But that day when we were on the grass and I saw you…” he starts to pace as he talks, but Kenna just stands still in shock listening him to ramble.

“It was like...like a veil had been lifted. I saw you…underneath me. And I felt your body and I just…I just knew. It was like this sudden flash of clarity and I realised that I loved you. loved you as more than a friend. And then it was like everything made sense.”

He stops pacing to take a few steps towards her. “Why I stayed here for you when everyone else left, why I was happy just being with you and no one else. And it took seeing you like that to see it. Because I hadn’t let myself really think about you like that before then…because once I did I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t stop seeing you underneath me when I closed my eyes. I couldn’t be around you because I knew I would do something or say something stupid and I’d scare you off.”

“You are…such an idiot.” She whispers.

Bash moves away from her toward the lake. “I know. I know and I’m sorry. But you were right. We couldn’t carry on like we had been doing. I know I’ve probably just ruined everything now.” He mutters, mad at himself.

“I never thought you could love me back!” she laughs suddenly.

His eyes fly up to hers quickly “What?” he breathes.

She doesn’t have time to answer as she flings herself at him, crashing into him wildly, like he had done all those weeks ago at the beginning of this mess.

Their lips collide firmly as her arms wrap round his shoulders and she is lifted from the ground. Then without warning Bash stumbles back slightly.

They crash loudly into the lake behind them, the sudden shock of the water overwhelming them.

 

Kenna laughs as she rises up for air, brushing her dark hair from her face. Bash is smiling now he is over the shock of the water. She swims over to him and they float together there, him holding her against him tightly.

“So…so do you–“ Bash starts and she cuts him off with a nod.

“Ugh! Yes!” she cries frustrated, but still smiling. “I adore you. I worship you, I need you!” she teases with an eye roll and he jabs his fingers playfully into her ribs.

Bash takes hold of her face as she strokes his hair back, looking down at him as he holds her up steadily. “Say it.” He says quietly.

Kenna rests her forehead against his, still peering at him and he laughs. “I love you.” she says seriously. She feels like a shadow has been lifted from her, being able to say the words like she really meant them.

She feels Bash smile against her skin as he presses his lips to her jaw, trailing soft yet fervent kisses there. Kenna turns her face into his more, revelling in what she had only dreamt of before.

Then suddenly Bash pulls back and drops her unceremoniously into the water.

She lets out a small gasp as she rises back up. Bash puts his hands out, willing her to fight back.

With a laugh she splashes him and they mess around like that, squealing, happy and content as their friends run back over and jump in beside them.


End file.
